About Dr. Nicholas Cummings

Bio

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D.

Dr. Nicholas A. Cummings is a visionary who, for half a century not only was able to foresee the future of professional psychology, but also helped create it. A former president of the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as its Divisions 12 (Clinical Psychology) and 29 (Psychotherapy), he formed a number of national organizations in response to trends. Since organized psychology resisted these inevitable changes, Dr. Cummings blazed the way, expecting others would follow. He launched the professional school movement by founding the four campuses of the California School of Professional Psychology that established clinicians as full-fledged members of the faculty. As chief of mental health for the Kaiser Permanente health system in the 1950s, he wrote and implemented the first prepaid psychotherapy contract in the era when psychotherapy was an exclusion rather than a covered benefit in health insurance. He wrote what is known as the freedom-of-choice legislation that requires insurers to reimburse psychologists along with psychiatrists, and he conducted the medical cost offset research showing that psychological interventions save medical/surgical dollars.

Foreseeing the industrialization of healthcare, and particularly behavioral healthcare, he founded American Biodyne, the nation’s first and only psychology-driven managed behavioral health organization (MBHO), to be emulated so that the profession could own managed behavioral care before it fell into the hands of business interests. For two years he limited enrollment to 500,000 covered lives, but when the professions of psychology and psychiatry ignored the model, he took his foot off the brake, and the number of covered lives soared to 14.5 million in the next 5 years and to 25 million shortly thereafter. Other organizations he founded included the National Academies of Practice (the 150 most distinguished practitioners in each of dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, pediatric medicine, psychology, social work, and veterinary medicine), the National Council of Professional Schools of Psychology (NCSPP), the San Joaquin County Psychological Association, and the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA). With others he co-founded the California Psychological Association, the San Francisco Bay Area Psychological Association, and the Council for the Advancement of the Psychological Professions and Sciences (CAPPS).

In the early days of the technical revolution, Dr. Nicholas Cummings was invited as the CEO of American Biodyne to attend a luncheon where he would meet innovators and entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Dr. Cummings was inspired by the brilliance of these entrepreneurs, and was struck by a similarity he noticed among the group: a particularly high college dropout rate. The tech giants of Silicon Valley had either enrolled in college and quickly dropped out after learning they knew far more than any of the faculty, or never enrolled at all; choosing instead to spend all of their time inventing the new technologies that would absolutely revolutionize our lives. Dr. Cummings realized that what healthcare needed was a similar revolution, and he saw an opportunity to teach behavioral health providers to disrupt the ineffective, fragmented healthcare system from within. There was only one problem: no university existed that was out-of-the-box enough to create both the curriculum and the environment that would stimulate the kind of innovation that healthcare needed. The choice was clear.

In 2014, Dr. Cummings along with his daughter, Janet L. Cummings, Psy.D, created the Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies to fill the educational gaps for innovative and entrepreneurial healthcare professionals wishing to disrupt healthcare from within or for those looking to launch new ventures. Drs. Cummings designed the DBH program at CGI to address three critical needs behavioral health providers would need to be successful in this aim: medical literacy, efficient and effective delivery of behavioral health interventions in medical settings, and entrepreneurship and innovation in the healthcare marketplace.

Accolades

In spite of being controversial all of his life, Dr. Nicholas Cummings is the recipient of numerous awards, including psychology’s highest, the APF Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Practice. Dr. Cummings received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, his master’s degree in psychology from Claremont Graduate School, and his doctorate in clinical psychology from Adelphi University. He has been awarded five honorary doctorates for his innovations in such diverse fields as education and the Greek classics. Along with his professional, scientific and educational contributions, he has been feted as the foremost entrepreneur in psychology.

Dr. Cummings was a member of President Kennedy’s Mental Health Task Force and President Carter’s Mental Health Commission. He was an advisor to the Health Economics Branch of the then Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Senate Subcommittee on Health (Senator Edward Kennedy, Chair), and the Senate Finance Committee (Senator Russell Long, Chair). He has testified before the Congress of the United States 18 times. On behalf of the Health Care Financing Administration, he conducted the 7-year Hawaii Medicaid Project that prompted the federal government to overhaul the way Medicaid was being delivered.

Publications

Dr. Nicholas Cummings has written over 450 book chapters and journal articles, along with 51 books, and 10 with his daughter, Dr. Janet Cummings.

Two seminal articles by Nicholas Cummings that demonstrate his expertise in healthcare integration and cost savings.

Cummings, N.A. (October 1969). The California School of Professional Psychology: One alternative to the extinction of professional psychology. Journal of Clinical Issues in Psychology, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 8-10

Cummings, N.A. (Summer 2000). The next phase in the evolution of behavioral care and its re-empowerment of the practitioner. The Independent Practitioner, Vol. 20, No. 3; Bulletin of he Psychologists in Independent Practice, a Division of the American Psychological Association.

Cummings, N.A. & Cummings, J.L. (2000). The essence of psychotherapy: Reinventing the art in the era of data. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Cummings, N.A. & Wiggins, J.G. (2001). A collaborative primary care/behavioral health model for the use of psychotropic medication with children and adolescents: The report of a national retrospective study. Issues in Interdisciplinary Care, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 121-128.

Interviews

Testimonials

The “four questions” of the refocused psychotherapist [in the Biodyne Model] and the concept of the “onion/garlic” psychodynamic enabled me to not only conceptualize a case and plan treatment more rapidly, but to rise to a new level of professional confidence in meeting the behavioral care needs of my patients.

Dr. Gayle Cordes, DBHJuly 12, 2016

The DBH program has been life-changing for me and has brought great value to the patients I serve. I work with a diverse population of patients in a 400+ bed Hospital to improve overall health outcomes. I love working with other medical providers to help patients improve their wellness and quality of life. I collaborate with the medical team to treat behavioral and psychological components of COPD, CHF, Diabetes, weight loss, stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, IBS, substance abuse issues, and more. The DBH program’s focus on brief interventions in medical settings is valuable, timely, and effective.

At the age of 53, and after working 25 years in the field of social work returning to school was not on my bucket list, but after learning about the Cummings Graduate Institute’s online program, my hope of achieving my lifetime a doctorate degree was possible. CGI online Doctor of Behavioral Health program is innovative and relevant. It's the perfect fit for the busy professional, parent or person looking to return to school or career advancement without the fuss of unnecessary coursework. CGI understands and recognizes that there are capable professionals and that most professionals are looking to gain a competitive edge or simply looking to satisfy a personal goal.

Steven ByrdDBH Candidate, Cummings Graduate InstituteMarch 4, 2017

I am a behavior analyst, and always believed that behavior analysis could improve the quality of life of so many people; but the way ABA services are delivered nowadays, one behavior analyst cannot reach many people. The healthcare landscape is changing and integration is a perfect venue to reach more people. I had already worked in a hospital setting and knew that my training was not enough to navigate the changing systems. The DBH offers training in relevant subjects such as population health management, health equity, legal issues and ethics in healthcare, and entrepreneurship. The breadth and variety of the courses will prepare me to face any challenges I may encounter.

The faculty at CGI are not only very knowledgeable in their field, but are very caring individuals who make an effort to learn about the students and their interests. I have been pleasantly surprised by the various systems CGI has in place to set clear expectations and guidelines for the student's performance. For each class, I know exactly what to expect, and what I have to do. The course material is very stimulating and engaging. The staff is very approachable and responsive, and the Librarian is an asset! I feel that everyone at CGI is cheering me for my success while holding me accountable for my work. I am sure that upon graduation, I will have a solid foundation to be an active change agent in the healthcare landscape.

CGI has changed my life, all for the better. Because I have the DBH program listed on my resume, the Senators (my Senate Confirmation Hearing to serve on the New York State Board of Parole) wanted to know all about the program in each hearing. I was questioned by New York Senate Board members to explain the DBH program, and the 'DBH' title. Everyone appears to be excited to have someone on the Board with behavioral experience. My goal is to use the education and skills acquired at CGI to improve behavioral health services throughout the New York correctional system.
Presently, within the NYS correctional system, primary care and behavioral health care are siloed, with no interaction across boundaries. The integration of care will support inmates while in prison, and will ensure appropriate treatment upon release, thus reducing recidivism rates among the formerly incarcerated.